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Squid Ship Son Save
Location: New Jersey Date: June 20, 1995 Story Jim Harris had been a commercial fisherman for more than twenty years and had his own boat, the Abracadabra, for nearly ten years. On June 20, 1995, his thirteen-year-old son, Jimmy, was on board helping the crew and they were expecting to all be safely back on shore in two days. "We go out for 2-3 days a time. Jimmy's been going out since he was four. It's great having him out on the boat. We actually spend more time on it together than we do at home," remembers Jim. Bill Peter had been working on the Abracadabra for five years. "We don't ice the squid because we have the refrigerated sea water system," said Bill. His brother, Michael, was the third member of the crew. "We like to have Jimmy around. I love him like a brother," said Michael. Jim was about seventy miles out to sea and asked Bill and Michael to get ready to work. Michael and Billy went out on the cabin and Jimmy was nowhere in sight. Bill noticed the hatch was open and saw Jimmy's hat. "As I got to the bottom of the ladder, my whole body just went numb. I knew it was a freon leak," said Bill. He discovered Jimmy floating face down in the refrigerator and unconscious. He told Jim that Jimmy was hurt. "The water is 32 degrees, it's freezing cold, you can't take it for very long," said Bill. He pulled Jimmy out of the hatch and dragged him up to the top of the boat. "He was blue and limp like a rag doll. The feeling is you have your son in your hands and he is dead," said Jim. Jim told Bill and Michael to start CPR while he ran in and called the Coast Guard for help. He told the dispatcher that they needed a helicopter and that Jimmy was not breathing and had hypothermia. Bill and Michael started doing CPR on Jimmy. "Every time we did compressions water came spilling out of his mouth. It's a scary most frightening thing I had been through in my life," said Bill. The dispatcher immediately dispatched a helicopter to the scene and asked Jim if they were still doing CPR. He told her that they were and would not quit. Jimmy had no pulse and because the nearest base was seventy miles away, it would take the helicopter at least thirty-five minutes to get to the scene. "He was wheezing a little and we were like, 'Oh my god, oh my god.' I checked for a pulse and we got a very faint one," said Bill. Jimmy started to take a breath on his own. They flipped him over onto Bill's side, started treating him for hypothermia, and put a sleeping bag on him to keep him warm. Jim went back to the front of the boat and told the dispatcher that Jimmy was breathing but he was still unconscious and they were trying to warm him up. "I knew the best thing to do for hypothermia was body to body heat, so I took off my shirt and boots and crawled under the sleeping bag with him," said Bill. Jimmy started spitting up very dark colored water with squid ink in it. "When you get it on your hands, it can cause blisters. I didn't know what kind of damage squid ink was going to do to his lungs," said Jim. Within forty-five minutes the Coast Guard, including EMT Petty Officer John Hall, arrived. "As I was being lowered down to the fishing boat, there was a little fear in my mind that there might be nothing I can do for this little boy," said John. It was worst for Jim to see Jimmy being taken away by Life Flight in the sunset. Petty Officer Guy Rush was the flight engineer. "He looked incredibly bad. I believe he was the worst I've ever seen," said Officer Rush. Jimmy was taken to Atlantic City Medical Center's trauma unit and examined by emergency physician Dr. Carlene Sinclair. "He was in very bad shape and was demonstrating in what is called decerebrate posturing" said Dr. Sinclair. By the time Jim and his wife, Bertie, came to the hospital, Jimmy's condition had been assessed. "The doctor told us that the damage to his lungs was so severe that they expected a 50/50 chance of survival. That was when we all just lost it," said Bertie. When two days passed without sign of improvement, Jimmy was transferred to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children where pulmonologist Dr. Howard Pellet took over his care. "Jimmy's lungs were very sick. It was at that time that his father remembered that there were some defoaming agents in the water that he was submerged in. It was possible that one might have washed out a natural compound called surfactant from his lungs," said Dr. Pellet. Jimmy had tubes in his throat, but he was able to respond with hand signals by squeezing Jim's hand. Jim and Bertie knew that he would be fine, but he was going to go through a lot of therapy. Two months have passed since the incident. "I remember opening up the hatch to the fish hole and then waking up in the hospital seeing my mom and dad," said Jimmy. Michael and Bill became a family friend to the Harris family. "It was a great regulation just to learn CPR and everyone thought it was a little bit of a pain when we first heard about it but if it wasn't for CPR, Jimmy wouldn't be here right now," said Bill. Jimmy's younger sister, Jennifer, shares their relief. "He's back to his old self because we're fighting again. It's good to have him back because I love him," said Jennifer. Jimmy's lungs are still a little damaged, but he is just about back to 100% normal, can do just about everything he did before the accident, and get back out on the boat with Jim. "My dad is a really great guy. I love being out on the boat with him. It's always been fun from the first trip I made with him to my last trip. I can't wait to get out and go back to fishing and spend more time with my dad," said Jimmy. Category:1995 Category:New Jersey Category:Drownings